Penning ion sources1-3 can be used for neutron generation through deuterium-deuterium (D-D) or deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion reactions, and offer the benefits of low power consumption, ease of operation, and compactness, in some configurations. Maximum neutron yields with Penning ion sources are limited by the poor atomic ion fraction characteristic of Penning discharges; typically over ninety-percent of extracted ions are molecular, necessitating high beam energy and current to obtain suitable neutron yields for imaging and interrogation purposes.